Assassin's Creed III - Release and Review Thread

Also please note that some of these leveling type missions seem to occur later in the game...I believe this is for money balance personally. (Higher end crafting can make you pretty rich if you know what you are doing)

I get putting certain upgrades for side stuff at certain points in the story helps not to overwhelm you. It just kind of disjoints the game for people who want to do ALL the sidestuff they have and then do a mission. I have so many items I cannot craft yet, that I got recipes for just by finding chests.

It is good to know that I should just do some story stuff to unlock that other people/levels for people.

It will probably also open up a way for me to get that feather I cannot seem to get.

Also please note that some of these leveling type missions seem to occur later in the game...I believe this is for money balance personally. (Higher end crafting can make you pretty rich if you know what you are doing)

I get putting certain upgrades for side stuff at certain points in the story helps not to overwhelm you. It just kind of disjoints the game for people who want to do ALL the sidestuff they have and then do a mission. I have so many items I cannot craft yet, that I got recipes for just by finding chests.

It is good to know that I should just do some story stuff to unlock that other people/levels for people.

It will probably also open up a way for me to get that feather I cannot seem to get.

Good to know, yeah, I'll just advance the story some too.

Which feather is it? Cause I've gotten every one revealed by Viewpoints (except in New York). There were definitely a couple of tricky ones.

2. If you want me to bust gangs and recruit assassins, TELL ME HOW TO DO SO and LET ME KILL THEM QUIETLY. I sneak up on them, and use the hidden blade. But before I can kill them, their entire party activates. When they activate, suddenly there's a wandering band of guards, and all dozen of them go after me. I've spent more on Cryer bribes than on equipment!.

3. Homesteaders? Please quit being so monumentally stupid. Kthxbye.

4. I buy new equipment -- but can't use it until I equip it at my homestead? Poor design.

5. LOVED the Angry Chef mission. THAT was real fun.

6. Oooooooh.. I'm supposed to LIBERATE the forts! They're like Templar bases in AC2! Thanks for finally telling me that - AFTER I liberate a base because they pissed me off.

7. You know, Conner, if you just go in the woods and slaughter like 100 bears, you'll have enough cash to buy the land. What's all the hubbub for?

8. So, Delivery Request folk -- You want me to get you about $3,000 of merchandise, for which you'll pay me the princely sum of $1,000? Wow! What a monumental deal! idiots.

It the one that is in the FAR north and almost dead center of the Frontier (there is nothing more north of it on the map). It seems to be mountains on all sides.

Follow the mountain on either side, eventually you'll find a cave going down a bit and then back up across to where the tree is. If you're too far on either side, go back because you've likely missed it.

nquinnell wrote:

4. I buy new equipment -- but can't use it until I equip it at my homestead? Poor design.

You can equip anything at a general store, open the buy menu and items you've purchased should still show up. Select an item you already own and it should equip itself. Usually it'll say EQUIPED instead of PURCHASED. The one exception as far as I can tell is different armour dyes.

4. I buy new equipment -- but can't use it until I equip it at my homestead? Poor design.

6. Oooooooh.. I'm supposed to LIBERATE the forts! They're like Templar bases in AC2! Thanks for finally telling me that - AFTER I liberate a base because they pissed me off.

7. You know, Conner, if you just go in the woods and slaughter like 100 bears, you'll have enough cash to buy the land. What's all the hubbub for?

8. So, Delivery Request folk -- You want me to get you about $3,000 of merchandise, for which you'll pay me the princely sum of $1,000? Wow! What a monumental deal! idiots.

And I'm still getting annoyed at two steps.. cutscene.. two steps.

3. So far, I have not noticed anything too stupid. What have you noticed? Is it AI mistakes, like walking in place? Is it getting into trouble, story?

4. On the 360 version everything you buy (not consumables) is equipped when you exit the menu.

6. I got the mission "liberate fort" as soon as I got close enough to discover it. It pops up every time you get near an enemy fort, in the upper left corner like a mission objective.

7. I am not sure about that one. Spoiler for those at the beginning of sequence 6

Spoiler: show

The Templars want the land so they can search for whatever it is they are looking for. They are not actually "buying" the land as much as they are displacing the natives. The natives do not want to sell thier land at all. I doubt they (templars AND natives) care about money that much given the plot so all the money in the game would not buy that land.

8. Yeah, that is kind of dumb. I spent so long on the first delivery mission, when I finished I rushed to turn it in and was promptly let down. The other delivery missions, some of the stuff I have no idea where to find or to make. Maybe as I unlock more game those items will become available.

Quote:

Follow the mountain on either side, eventually you'll find a cave going down a bit and then back up across to where the tree is. If you're too far on either side, go back because you've likely missed it.

I will have to look again. I swear I spent about and hour going all around that cliff. Basically tracing a 'U' and did not see anything. Though knowing my luck the reward will be fairly lame.

Spoiler: show

I know it is armor, but it will probably look dumb and give a terrible bonus. Like lower noteriety or increased profits from hunting.

I've finished collecting all of the feathers and Peg Leg trinkets. The reward for collecting all feathers is a piece of armour, as has been confirmed a few times in this thread. However, it's NOT the cool Native-themed armour set from the concept art that leaked a while back--it's just the outfit Teen Connor wears before graduating to the assassin outfit. Extremely disappointing.

At least the Peg Leg trinkets give you something useful.

Spoiler: show

As mentioned, it's a ring that deflects musket rounds.

Edit:

And now I'm at the end. If you're on Sequence 12 or you've finished it, I'd appreciate some help.

Spoiler: show

I'm at the part where you find Charles Lee on the docks. It leads to a chase where you go through like 4 firing lines and then onto a burning boat. I'd keep describing what comes next except there's no fucking checkpoint at any point up until the part after the boat and I haven't gotten past that. Why the fuck is this mission so unforgiving?

You can only afford to let Lee get 60 ft ahead before you fail... except he starts at like 40 ft ahead, so you have absolutely zero room to breathe. Get hit by a bayonet whose hitbox is about twice as long as the model indicates? You fail because you get up too slow. Trip up on an awkwardly stacked barrel? You fail because the free-run button stops working. Get hit by a civilian launched from an exploding barrel? Fail because you're too slow to get up. I once got past the burning boat only to land on the wrong side of a piece of wood, instantly failing me for losing my target; the worst part was seeing this motherfucker about 15 ft from me merrily hopping away.

This is the second time where I've just walked up to the Xbox and powered it off out of frustration. The other being the final Captain Kidd mission where three wolves you encounter have significantly shortened QTE reaction times--of course, coupled with optional objectives saying you can't lose more than 30% health and can't use ranged weapons.

Played a bit more SP, another story mission in Sequence 7, and took down two of the forts out in the wild. That's quite a bit of fun. Definitely feel like a badass in this game when doing the running takedowns. The running takedown with the rifle/bayonet is rad. I also like Connor's context sensitive 'knees' where he knocks guys back/over ledges. In one fort, two soldiers were standing next to a well, I insta-killed one, started attacking the other, and Connor knees him over the edge and down into the well. Awesome.

Played a bit more MP this morning. Got to level 10. I'm really enjoying straight up Deathmatch, and it definitely has the most potential for getting XP quickly. Tried some Manhunt, but the teams were so uneven it wasn't fun at all. I really feel like Deathmatch and Wanted are the gametypes of choice.

I've finished collecting all of the feathers and Peg Leg trinkets. The reward for collecting all feathers is a piece of armour, as has been confirmed a few times in this thread. However, it's NOT the cool Native-themed armour set from the concept art that leaked a while back--it's just the outfit Teen Connor wears before graduating to the assassin outfit. Extremely disappointing.

At least the Peg Leg trinkets give you something useful.

Spoiler: show

As mentioned, it's a ring that deflects musket rounds.

Edit:

And now I'm at the end. If you're on Sequence 12 or you've finished it, I'd appreciate some help.

Spoiler: show

I'm at the part where you find Charles Lee on the docks. It leads to a chase where you go through like 4 firing lines and then onto a burning boat. I'd keep describing what comes next except there's no fucking checkpoint at any point up until the part after the boat and I haven't gotten past that. Why the fuck is this mission so unforgiving?

You can only afford to let Lee get 60 ft ahead before you fail... except he starts at like 40 ft ahead, so you have absolutely zero room to breathe. Get hit by a bayonet whose hitbox is about twice as long as the model indicates? You fail because you get up too slow. Trip up on an awkwardly stacked barrel? You fail because the free-run button stops working. Get hit by a civilian launched from an exploding barrel? Fail because you're too slow to get up. I once got past the burning boat only to land on the wrong side of a piece of wood, instantly failing me for losing my target; the worst part was seeing this motherfucker about 15 ft from me merrily hopping away.

This is the second time where I've just walked up to the Xbox and powered it off out of frustration. The other being the final Captain Kidd mission where three wolves you encounter have significantly shortened QTE reaction times--of course, coupled with optional objectives saying you can't lose more than 30% health and can't use ranged weapons.

I had the same issue with the lee part but found a solution:

Spoiler: show

Basically you don't run through the guards. Jump right before you contact them. Once you get to teh burning boat, planks fall on the right that you can climb up. Once up those swing on the ropes to the next section. More fire will drop and there is a half-wall on the right that you can go over. Once through there just run to the right and then turn left and keep heaidng straight .. you'll be swinging from planks and crawling up netting at that point but it is a straight shot. Once through that you'll be on lee's arse and he swings from a rope on the left, take that rope too. It's not too bad of a quest once you know all of the "tricks" .. but like you it took me a few frustrating moments to get it. Once I did though I was through in short order.

Basically you don't run through the guards. Jump right before you contact them. Once you get to teh burning boat, planks fall on the right that you can climb up. Once up those swing on the ropes to the next section. More fire will drop and there is a half-wall on the right that you can go over. Once through there just run to the right and then turn left and keep heaidng straight .. you'll be swinging from planks and crawling up netting at that point but it is a straight shot. Once through that you'll be on lee's arse and he swings from a rope on the left, take that rope too. It's not too bad of a quest once you know all of the "tricks" .. but like you it took me a few frustrating moments to get it. Once I did though I was through in short order.

Ugh, seems like I was almost at the end. The part right after the boat where you're on planks, I accidentally landed on a plank to the right side (i.e. parallel to the way you're meant to go, instead of perpendicular, if you get my meaning) and that instantly failed me. That was the last straw. I had just restarted about 25 times trying to get the optionals for the Oak Island wolves just prior and wasn't in the mood.

Spoiler: show

The firing line I kinda got the hang of. You can skip the first group or two by going left down the stairs on the side of the water, and if you're lucky the middle groups will be harassed by people, the last group is hit or miss but if you jump at the corner just left of them you can avoid them too, most of the time.

I'm digging the story, but the combat and UI in AC3 seem like a huge step backwards compared to AC2/ACB.

For axemen, I find doing regular attacks usually results in the headbutt, so the trick is to either herd them next to a wall/surface so you can insta-kill them via knee, or to break their defenses (which usually lets me finish them easily) or do a disarm counter.

I had the same issues w/r/t combat but it just seems like they've made guards out to be less of a bunch of pushovers. You can't just do "initial counter + kill chain" the way you could in AC2, and each guard type has a couple of slightly different ways to kill him.

They always seem to block my counter attack... it's ridiculous, if there's some other guards around, I can insta-kill the Jager, but if it's just one Jager, it's 50/50 whether I can end up killing him or not!

They always seem to block my counter attack... it's ridiculous, if there's some other guards around, I can insta-kill the Jager, but if it's just one Jager, it's 50/50 whether I can end up killing him or not!

If it's just a Jager, when you press B to counter, follow up with A instead of X to disarm him. You can then attack him freely with whatever weapon and not have to worry about him blocking you. That's how I take them down.

Quick question (last night was just running around collecting stuff, and freeing forts).

I keep having some of the "Assassination Contact" stars appearing in Boston, but no people around them to talk to. I've completed freeing all the "merchants" being roughed up by the guys, but there's only been one completion-star that had a person with it so that I could finish up on it, and get more assassins to join me.

Quick question (last night was just running around collecting stuff, and freeing forts).

I keep having some of the "Assassination Contact" stars appearing in Boston, but no people around them to talk to. I've completed freeing all the "merchants" being roughed up by the guys, but there's only been one completion-star that had a person with it so that I could finish up on it, and get more assassins to join me.

Is this a glitch, or is it just something that will complete later?

(I'm in the middle of Segment 6, just having met Paul Revere).

Are you sure you aren't in the middle of an assassination contract? When you accept the first contract, the one I've done had like 6 required kills, and each target on the map would only show up one at a time. So I'd kill one, then another would show up on map, kill him, etc. etc. Did you maybe accept it and are on one of the kills and that's why there's no one to talk to?

I'm not sure on the other one, but I haven't seen to much of that either, and I'm not much further than you, so probably just comes later.

Quick question (last night was just running around collecting stuff, and freeing forts).

I keep having some of the "Assassination Contact" stars appearing in Boston, but no people around them to talk to. I've completed freeing all the "merchants" being roughed up by the guys, but there's only been one completion-star that had a person with it so that I could finish up on it, and get more assassins to join me.

Is this a glitch, or is it just something that will complete later?

(I'm in the middle of Segment 6, just having met Paul Revere).

Are you sure you aren't in the middle of an assassination contract? When you accept the first contract, the one I've done had like 6 required kills, and each target on the map would only show up one at a time. So I'd kill one, then another would show up on map, kill him, etc. etc. Did you maybe accept it and are on one of the kills and that's why there's no one to talk to?

I'm not sure on the other one, but I haven't seen to much of that either, and I'm not much further than you, so probably just comes later.

Every so often, while I'm in incognito mode and running through the city (usually NY), all of a sudden, I pick up aggro of every red coat in the area. I didn't run into any one, and I'm no where near any restricted areas.

Any one know what might be causing this, or at least have you run into this issue?

Quick question (last night was just running around collecting stuff, and freeing forts).

I keep having some of the "Assassination Contact" stars appearing in Boston, but no people around them to talk to. I've completed freeing all the "merchants" being roughed up by the guys, but there's only been one completion-star that had a person with it so that I could finish up on it, and get more assassins to join me.

Is this a glitch, or is it just something that will complete later?

(I'm in the middle of Segment 6, just having met Paul Revere).

Are you sure you aren't in the middle of an assassination contract? When you accept the first contract, the one I've done had like 6 required kills, and each target on the map would only show up one at a time. So I'd kill one, then another would show up on map, kill him, etc. etc. Did you maybe accept it and are on one of the kills and that's why there's no one to talk to?

I'm not sure on the other one, but I haven't seen to much of that either, and I'm not much further than you, so probably just comes later.

M4EOzzy - I think nquinnell is referring to the mark for assassin recruits - the ones you get for liberating sections of the town - rather than assasination contracts.

nquinnell - yes I have similar problems with the map,

1. Assassin Contact Point but no assassin to talk to. When I walk into the bar there are only board games to play and no assassin recruit to talk to. Although I did get all three in Boston to join up. 2. Glitches with the "interactive conversations" where there is no-one to talk to - the funny thing is it's Norris the Homestead miner and the mark is on his outhouse 3. On my South Boston liberation mission one of the mission markers would not show up, I spent half an hour wandering the streets of South Boston to find that damn man on a horse to kill. That was irritating as hell. The others I'm hoping may clear up with progress in the game, I'm only on sequence 7.

Like ult1mat3 I have been experiencing glitches while trying to make friends. Would someone who is past mission 6 and has kept up with the town based liberation stuff please read this spoiler and tell me if they had a similar experience.

Spoiler: show

I have all three initial recruits in Boston. I have a 4th spot that is marked "liberation contact", I go there and the spot is empty. Should I be able to recruit this person now? Does it come up later in the story?

Sub spoiler based on the above spoiler.

Spoiler: show

I am kind of bummed that it seems like all my recruits are fixed. I have always tried to get an all female harem of assassins. I have yet to really employ the uniqueness of my recruits as I send them on missions constantly. It seems interesting, but I feel like I have so many other tools at my disposal it is not needed.

I have encountered a few glitches so if someone could explain thier experience regarding the above it would be much appreciated. I just want to make sure I am not somehow screwed. Or that the above will unlock later.

At the end of mission 6 you unlock more people to craft things. Though I have found the menu to be a little cumbersome, so for the most part I have avoided it. I make tons of money from convoys of just pelts, so I have not needed to craft anything. I have all the upgrades, have not purchased many other weapons yet. Though, they all suck so I am not missing out on much.

How do you do a double assassination from ground level? It seems to only activate it when I am able to jump on people below.

I still have not seen the pre-order weapon I am supposed to get. Kind of lame, but I rarely if every use anything besides my trusty hatchet. Kills come easy enough. For the question about the Jagers, just counter - shoot. As long as you have a loaded gun it is an insta-kill.

I have all the collectibles I can get at this point in the story. Yeah...feathers are not worth your time.

I finished all the hunting quests/challenges. It unlocked some MP rewards (probably skins) and nothing else.

The 'statistics' that come up are also kind of neat. I get them regularly. I got one that said I was in the top 1% of the world for money collected from convoys. Another for hunting. Pretty cool.

Every so often, while I'm in incognito mode and running through the city (usually NY), all of a sudden, I pick up aggro of every red coat in the area. I didn't run into any one, and I'm no where near any restricted areas.

Any one know what might be causing this, or at least have you run into this issue?

I believe this happens when you come across an officer. They're supposed to recognize you, I think. This may be placebo but it seems like this happens a lot less once you've liberated a town and taken over their forts.

ult1mat3 wrote:

1. Assassin Contact Point but no assassin to talk to. When I walk into the bar there are only board games to play and no assassin recruit to talk to. Although I did get all three in Boston to join up.

3. On my South Boston liberation mission one of the mission markers would not show up, I spent half an hour wandering the streets of South Boston to find that damn man on a horse to kill. That was irritating as hell. The others I'm hoping may clear up with progress in the game, I'm only on sequence 7.

1. You get three assassins per major city, I believe, so you already have all three. I may be wrong but I don't think the assassination contractor is the same as your "local contact" (the guy you recruit).

3. Not all liberation missions show up--some are fixed location and show up but there are a lot you have to run across on the streets before they show up on the map. You have to walk around the disputed area for a while--it shouldn't take too long as long as you're where the liberation mission would logically occur (i.e. near sidewalk shops for the "beat up merchants for poor kids", or near farms for the farmer defense ones).

YourHero wrote:

How do you do a double assassination from ground level? It seems to only activate it when I am able to jump on people below.

I haven't yet figured this out, but I think you need to position yourself so that the game highlights both targets. At least, that's what you have to do from above, so it shouldn't be different.

I need to see if the manual in-game explains any of the systems better, lotta hearsay

Another thing to watch out for with the sudden guard attention- there seem to be unmarked 'restricted' areas you could be wandering into, watch for guards standing at entrances to small areas like courtyards, often with chests, but not always. Look at how they stand at entrances to forts- evenly spaced, facing straight away from the area they are 'guarding'- that is what I am talking about. If you wander into their area at all, they go full alert.

As for double assassination, I have much better luck if I am in high profile (running). If moving slowly, it seems you need both to 'highlight', but running can even get you double assassination on two guards standing in a line, rather than the 'traditional' setup where you get one on each side of you. For air double assassinations, though, it seems completely random.

1. You get three assassins per major city, I believe, so you already have all three. I may be wrong but I don't think the assassination contractor is the same as your "local contact" (the guy you recruit).

3. Not all liberation missions show up--some are fixed location and show up but there are a lot you have to run across on the streets before they show up on the map. You have to walk around the disputed area for a while--it shouldn't take too long as long as you're where the liberation mission would logically occur (i.e. near sidewalk shops for the "beat up merchants for poor kids", or near farms for the farmer defense ones).

OK. It is a little confusing because I have 4 liberation contacts, even though only three have people.

M4EOzzy - I think nquinnell is referring to the mark for assassin recruits - the ones you get for liberating sections of the town - rather than assasination contracts.

nquinnell - yes I have similar problems with the map,

1. Assassin Contact Point but no assassin to talk to. When I walk into the bar there are only board games to play and no assassin recruit to talk to. Although I did get all three in Boston to join up. 2. Glitches with the "interactive conversations" where there is no-one to talk to - the funny thing is it's Norris the Homestead miner and the mark is on his outhouse 3. On my South Boston liberation mission one of the mission markers would not show up, I spent half an hour wandering the streets of South Boston to find that damn man on a horse to kill. That was irritating as hell. The others I'm hoping may clear up with progress in the game, I'm only on sequence 7.

YES! EXACTLY THIS! I have exactly the same things. I'm glad to know it isn't me.

I make tons of money from convoys of just pelts, so I have not needed to craft anything.

You can... convoy... pelts?

Godsdammit.

I should have thought of that! Gah!

Don't worry, I am pretty sure no one knows- I sent one (and only one) convoy, that netted me ~1000 pounds, and when it came back I got a pop up in the upper right corner that I was "in the top ten percent worldwide for money earned from convoys". This tells me that everyone else is ignoring them as much as I had been. Also interesting was 5 humans shields from firing lines got me to 'top 50% worldwide' in that. I have not seen these pop ups since, but I thought it was kind of a neat thing, since I am sure the devs can look and see that maybe convoys and human shields need some work if most people never touch them.

However, I find it is not worth the hassle to do convoys since they don't let you sell stacks (as far as I can tell) so I just find the roaming peddlers in the wagons on the frontier to offload my pelts and such, and get almost the same amount of money. Granted, I just unlocked New York, so maybe merchants there have better prices, but I doubt it.

M4EOzzy - I think nquinnell is referring to the mark for assassin recruits - the ones you get for liberating sections of the town - rather than assasination contracts.

nquinnell - yes I have similar problems with the map,

1. Assassin Contact Point but no assassin to talk to. When I walk into the bar there are only board games to play and no assassin recruit to talk to. Although I did get all three in Boston to join up. 2. Glitches with the "interactive conversations" where there is no-one to talk to - the funny thing is it's Norris the Homestead miner and the mark is on his outhouse 3. On my South Boston liberation mission one of the mission markers would not show up, I spent half an hour wandering the streets of South Boston to find that damn man on a horse to kill. That was irritating as hell. The others I'm hoping may clear up with progress in the game, I'm only on sequence 7.

YES! EXACTLY THIS! I have exactly the same things. I'm glad to know it isn't me.

Thanks, Ultimat3!

Found an answer. The mark means the mission is unfinished. Someplace, goons in blue are guarding a house with a back yard. In the back yard is prisoner. You have to free him. This location isn't noted on the map anywhere - you just have to look for goons guarding a house.

I found this out when I was grid-mapping an area, trying to find the last two goddamn Underground entrances. I ran into two guarded houses this way.

Found an answer. The mark means the mission is unfinished. Someplace, goons in blue are guarding a house with a back yard. In the back yard is prisoner. You have to free him. This location isn't noted on the map anywhere - you just have to look for goons guarding a house.

I found this out when I was grid-mapping an area, trying to find the last two goddamn Underground entrances. I ran into two guarded houses this way.

So what is the answer?

Spoiler: show

Does that 4th assassin (liberation) contact marker mean I get to recruit 4 assassins in Boston? and I just have not found the missions yet? If not what is the deal with that extra marker.

It sounds like you are talking about an unmarked liberation mission. Did you find an answer to the above?---------------------------------------------Spent some more time in the MP yesterday. The only VS mode I am really interested in playing is Wanted, none of the other VS modes seem all that balanced. In Wanted you can at least try to play the game in a sneaky manner, though it seems the systems actively punish you for it. I have noticed that Abstergo points come at a VERY slow rate, I could not fully populate an ability set (unlocked at level 5) until level 12. Really makes it tempting to fall for the micro-transactions.

In an FFA mode I do fairly well, but the ammount of luck in the game is really starting to show. It could be because it is my 3rd game using this MP, and charm is wearing thin. You can do better overall if you run from kill to kill than if you go slowly trying to get the best single bonus possible. It also makes whoever is after you almost have to expose themselves in order to catch you, letting you increase your chances for stuns.

I doubt I will ever be able to unlock a relic naturally to find out what they do. So I used my Uplay points to unlock the Uplay one and it gave me no bonus that I can tell. That is not to say the others have or don't have bonsues with them. I figure that much work to unlock they should have some bonus with them. They are so tiny unless you have 100in TV and play backwards you will never even see your own, let alone someone elses.

M4EOzzy - I think nquinnell is referring to the mark for assassin recruits - the ones you get for liberating sections of the town - rather than assasination contracts.

nquinnell - yes I have similar problems with the map,

1. Assassin Contact Point but no assassin to talk to. When I walk into the bar there are only board games to play and no assassin recruit to talk to. Although I did get all three in Boston to join up. 2. Glitches with the "interactive conversations" where there is no-one to talk to - the funny thing is it's Norris the Homestead miner and the mark is on his outhouse 3. On my South Boston liberation mission one of the mission markers would not show up, I spent half an hour wandering the streets of South Boston to find that damn man on a horse to kill. That was irritating as hell. The others I'm hoping may clear up with progress in the game, I'm only on sequence 7.

YES! EXACTLY THIS! I have exactly the same things. I'm glad to know it isn't me.

Thanks, Ultimat3!

Found an answer. The mark means the mission is unfinished. Someplace, goons in blue are guarding a house with a back yard. In the back yard is prisoner. You have to free him. This location isn't noted on the map anywhere - you just have to look for goons guarding a house.

I found this out when I was grid-mapping an area, trying to find the last two goddamn Underground entrances. I ran into two guarded houses this way.

I think I just ran into this situation myself. Clearly had one Liberation left to do in Northern Boston, but just happened upon the guards. Makes more sense now, especially in New York doing the Liberation quests there.

Was SUPER excited when I went in the general store in New York, checked out the heavy weapons, and what did I see??? Chingachgook's mother f'in axe/club from Last of the Mohicans! Bought that bad boy in an instant. Oh man does it put the hurt on the British.

I'm in sequence 9 now. Have done every Homestead mission that has shown up, and still have yet to level an Artisan past 1. Not sure when that's gonna happen, but man, would be nice to know.

EDIT: Well, I just read that you have to collect EVERY artisan before you can start leveling them up, so maybe that's why. I just acquired two in Sequence 9, so wonder how close I am to having them all...

I think it's weird this game have gotten so high ratings. This game have so many bugs and so many incomplete features. It feels like it was rushed out to early.

Too bad because the game has potential.

So far, I'm really enjoying it, but in terms of what I was expecting from it, it is a bit disappointing. I've only encountered minor bugs and glitches, and those are ones that I've encountered in almost every AC game. My biggest criticism of the game would be it's UI, and lack of explantation on how different systems in the game work.

This is one of the most frustrating games I've ever actually wanted to play despite the frustrations. They had done a lot of good work on the controls in the earlier games and seem to have regressed pretty far with this release. Also the wilderness environments look cool but don't fit as well with the free run mechanics. I can never tell wtf I can grab or climb, especially with cliff faces. It took me like 30 minutes and countless tries to get one of the tree viewpoints. I'm also pretty much ignoring hunting and trading as they don't seem to be that useful. I get enough skins and shit by just running around with my hidden blade and killing things as I come across them.

This is one of the most frustrating games I've ever actually wanted to play despite the frustrations. They had done a lot of good work on the controls in the earlier games and seem to have regressed pretty far with this release. Also the wilderness environments look cool but don't fit as well with the free run mechanics. I can never tell wtf I can grab or climb, especially with cliff faces. It took me like 30 minutes and countless tries to get one of the tree viewpoints. I'm also pretty much ignoring hunting and trading as they don't seem to be that useful. I get enough skins and shit by just running around with my hidden blade and killing things as I come across them.

Cliff faces that are relatively flat aren't climbable. I haven't really had any issues with the wilderness except for too-frequent wolf or bear attacks. Once you recognize exactly what you can climb or not, I find it way easier to get around than in the towns. It seems the bugginess of the free-running is exposed far more easily there than in the Frontier.

This is one of the most frustrating games I've ever actually wanted to play despite the frustrations. They had done a lot of good work on the controls in the earlier games and seem to have regressed pretty far with this release. Also the wilderness environments look cool but don't fit as well with the free run mechanics. I can never tell wtf I can grab or climb, especially with cliff faces. It took me like 30 minutes and countless tries to get one of the tree viewpoints. I'm also pretty much ignoring hunting and trading as they don't seem to be that useful. I get enough skins and shit by just running around with my hidden blade and killing things as I come across them.

Cliff faces that are relatively flat aren't climbable. I haven't really had any issues with the wilderness except for too-frequent wolf or bear attacks. Once you recognize exactly what you can climb or not, I find it way easier to get around than in the towns. It seems the bugginess of the free-running is exposed far more easily there than in the Frontier.

Yeah, there are telltale marks/designs that give away climbable rocks. Pretty much, if it appears in any way to be a single flat texture, you can't climb it. Look for small ledges, changes in geometry, or the long cracks going upward, and it's a safe bet you can climb it. I had a lot of trouble with the first big tree I climbed, but after that, most were pretty similar and it became a breeze.

Yeah, the stretched textures on non-climbable rock faces are fairly distinct. For trees, there are only a couple you can climb: those with horizontal branches about as high as shop signs in streets, those with spiky branches along the sides and the really big Y-shaped tree bases.

After the excessive ammount of bashing AC1 got for being repetitious, they have made it a point to throw in as much stuff as possible to never hear this again. They traded 4-5 tight mechanics for 10+ much looser ones.

I was curious after seeing previews how exactly I would be able to free run in the wilderness, but I think they do a good enough job with it. It did take some time to get used to it as the context in city was well established and this is new. I like the break from city after city.

I am kind of on the fence about all the bloat/fat in the game, on one hand I think it can take away from the things I enjoy. On the other I can mostly ignore what I do not like.

Yeah, if nothing else, the sidestuff is more optional than ever. You don't NEED anything really that the main quest line doesn't provide. The weapons you start with will get you through it all it seems, there's no 'armor' to increase health (that I've seen anyway). So if there's a certain type of side mission you don't like, don't do it. At the same time, there's still repetition that rears it's ugly head. I mean, the laughing of the orphans teeth gratingly annoying. I doing liberation missions where each place I go is the same guy, telling me to do the same thing, in the same voice and exact same dialog.

I like the cities though and how they're laid out, and I like Connor's new 'quick vault' moves for getting over low objects, or especially in town, sliding under broken fences. That's a lot of fun.